


Soulmates

by alwaysBeWithYou



Category: SHINee
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:20:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25015360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alwaysBeWithYou/pseuds/alwaysBeWithYou
Summary: quagmireisadora asked:If everyone in this world has a soulmate, and everyone is meant to live out their lives with this soulmate, what happens in the end? Eunsook and Gwiboon are in their sixties. They meet each other in community housing for people whose soulmates have passed on. How do they continue now that their are two halves of a broken whole?
Relationships: Choi Minho/Lee Eunsook, Kim Gwiboon/Kim Jonghyun, Kim Gwiboon/Lee Eunsook
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This work is written in response to the ask received on tumblr. This fic will have mentions of two major character's death, because the fic is about moving after someone's loss. It only mentions the death in passing, no graphic description involved. but if you are uncomfortable with it, please avoid.
> 
> I'm writing this mostly for myself as a way of healing and moving on. I have never wrote these pairings so this is new for me. I hope you enjoy.

Soulmates. A concept which suddenly took a chaotic, complex world and made it plain and simpler. Instead of going through multiple broken relationships and having broken, withered hearts, people started to wait for the chosen one. This kept, hearts whole, untouched by unknown feelings, pure for the one your soul desires.

It soothed lonely hearts, the hope that someone is out there waiting just for them, did wonders. People actually started focusing more on their careers, their education, their families, mostly because they didn't have to actively search for love. Government had a database containing entries of all soulmates pairs. And when both parties reach a reasonable age, mostly 24 for both, then they will get a mail notification to be present in court. Here they will meet their soulmate, and they should ideally get married or stay together.

Simple, right? But the real struggle starts here. You envision your soulmate knows what you want. You feel he will come into your normal, dull life and will sweep you up in a whirlwind romance. But in reality, it is the exact opposite. Being soulmate increases expectations from a relationship, it’s not as smooth sailing as it should be. Because the database only finds out who your soul needs, and let’s you meet with them. It doesn’t teach you to respect them, to love them and more importantly, to accept them. The remaining life is still filled with everyday struggles, petty fights and even broken expectations. The only difference is that you don’t let go of each other. You just let the same person be the holder of your heart and you just do anything in your right to make it work. Because no one has more than one soulmate, and this person you are tied to, is supposed to be the best person you could ever ask for.

Once you work out the equation between you though, there won’t be anyone else you feel so connected to. You are soulmates for a reason, there is theis hunger in your heart, your soul that can only ever be fulfilled by this one person. No one else, rather you don’t even think about the possibility of someone else. Why would you when you have someone who calms all your chaos?

Life is life though, as days, months, years pass by, you connect on all those different levels and there isn’t even the tiniest bit of space in your mind, or even your heart for anyone else. But the end is inevitable. What starts must end, and your relationship or life of your soulmate isn’t any exception for that. As I said earlier, soulmates should make life easier, simple, normal, but it all collapses when one bondmate dies. Natural death of a relationship is almost impossible in this world, but death of a soulmate doesn’t finish the relationship, but it does finish the life in the living one. Being taught to love only one person throughout life should have cons, right? Death of your bondmate causes heartache, loss of interest in life, and most of the times increases chances of suicide. Many people don’t know how to continue life without their chosen one by their side, and the few people who do dare to continue living, do it for the sake of not disappointing their bondmate.

As the world created a system to let soulmates meet each other, they created a system to keep all such bondmates under one roof. Every city had community centres which gave shelter to such half pairs of bondmates and that was good for many people. It was better to know someone else going through the same heartbreak as one was going through. It helped them mentally, it helped in understanding that they could live. Life could go on, not as happy or as lively as before, but at least comfortably and with people who can understand their misery. Kim Gwiboon was one of the people residing in the Seoul community for other halves. Let’s see how she ended up here, or more specifically, how a different journey started after ending up here…

Gwiboon was always practical, from when she could remember. She had her childish moments, her silly wishes and her utter crazy antiques, but she was practical at heart. She accepted the challenges head on, and never really believed in crying over spilled milk. Her life was all about thinking of one day at a time. Kim Jonghyun was her friend since she could remember, they literally grew together. When most of the people focus on anything except love or relationship while waiting for their soulmate, these two did exactly the opposite. Jonghyun and Gwiboon had decided very early in their friendship that they would try to see if they could fall in love with someone before knowing their actual soulmate.

And they kind of succeeded in that. After many failed relationships, many tears, some fights, they realised that they kept coming back at each other. They were each other’s safe place. And this feeling was entirely new and completely for both of them. They even spent some days thinking about the inevitable when they would find their soulmate and they might not continue to feel this feeling about each other. So being the practical soul that she was, gwiboon decided to fuck it and sleep with Jjong before they had to find their soulmate.

The first time that they had sex was everything they never felt before, it was everything they never really knew they wanted. This scared them both and for the first time in life, they sobered up and thought about what they wanted. It was pretty clear that for some reason they didn’t want to let go of each other, and it wasn’t like how it was with other partners. Not all the others were jerks and that’s why they liked or ended up with each other kind of stupidity. No! They did find some really good people through all these years, but something always was lacking. May it be the partner’s inability to snore, or dislike towards a certain type of food. Things, which normally wouldn’t be a dealbreaker , kept poking them out in the eye and would end up the otherwise smooth relationship.

They decided to live as much as they can with each other, though they knew the end was near. And, really, gwiboon was never so scared of the future, and now each passing day mattered just a tiny bit more. Because she wasn’t sure which will be end of this something deep that she was feeling for her best friend who most probably will end up being someone else’s soulmate, and that will be the last time she would ever go to sleep without holding him closing to her heart, last time she would listen to his deep breathing while he slept like a dork in some chair writing lyrics, last time she would trace those lines on his palm which most likely to have written someone else as his destiny. It upset her a great deal, and even he could sense her growing anxiety.

All fell in place the day they were called to the court, both were given the same time. They went to the court, hands held tightly, hearts beating furiously, equal parts of curious and anxious.

Just before they could enter, Gwiboon held him back, eyes stormy and furious as she asked, “Do we really need to go? Can things be any better than what we have? Is it really worth it?”

Jonghyun stayed quiet for a moment, he squeezed her palm, “Gwi! I’m not saying things aren’t better. I’m not saying I’m not happy with you. I’m even sure I have never felt this whole, this complete with anyone. But what if something that you and I need is waiting beyond that door? I can’t let you lose the chance of finding someone really worth your glory just because I find myself complete with you. I would prefer to spend my life knowing you found someone really worth everything that you are.”

Gwiboon wanted him to fight for her, she wanted him to scream or throw a tantrum that what they have is enough and she doesn’t want anything more. But she knew he wouldn’t do that. He was too selfless, too in love with her. He loved her to the extent that her needs mattered more than his, and he wanted her to have this chance at finding a person who would be good for her soul, not someone who would be just good for her heart or dreams. She sighed, hugged him one last time, held her head high once they pulled away, let go of his clammy palm lingering just a moment longer, and started walking towards a path which would change everything that she believed, everything that she loved and everything that she wanted.

What she didn’t know was, everything she thought she wanted, exactly matched with everything that she needed, because in the next few minutes, the court announced that the person she was so wary to let go of, was indeed a person whose destiny held her in it. Ironically, even though Kim Jonghyun believed she deserved a whole lot more, he himself was the other half of her soul. Her best friend, her love, her dream and now _her soulmate._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's take a look at how Eunsook ended up in the Seoul Community For Other Halves.

_ Your soulmate has passed away!!  _

Those words couldn’t stop ringing in Enusook’s ears. Her soulmate, her other half, her sole purpose for living, is lost. That one soul, who made her existence matter was no more. He shared her life with her, he was the reason she looked up to every day no matter how bad the previous day had been, he was her strength, he was the only person she knew how to love and the only person who managed to love her. She always imagined herself to be gone before him, or them leaving this world together, sharing their afterlife just like how they shared this life.

Without him, she was once again that defective piece of soul who would never be complete again, just a lifeless body, just a home for short breaths until the day she would stop breathing altogether. She now understood what it meant to be broken apart from your soul, that constant feeling of completeness was nowhere to be found. Her bony fingers didn’t have his to fill the space in between hers, her face could never be peppered by those soft clumsy feather kisses anymore, her body will never be engulfed in that bone-crushing embrace ever again, and her soul will never alight with those sparks it felt while watching him spare a smile towards her. 

She was still deep in grieving and she was all alone. Their families never really supported them, so they were out of question. It was just him and her, all these years, ever since they found each other. And now after his death, her life will go back to being that lonely place, where days won’t pass quickly enough and nights will never be warm again. 

  
After giving a thought, she decided that she couldn’t really stay in a place which held so many memories of their life together. It didn’t feel right to stay there when she was left behind. It was torture, to be able to remember moments that took place at every single corner of that house. It was their home, their territory, their safe heaven and she didn't want to stay there alone. She wasn’t used to taking decisions for herself, she wasn’t used to not being able to get his opinion on anything, she wasn’t used to taking such risks about her life. But now that he wasn’t by her side, this was another thing she needed to do. She needed to take reigns of her life and run it the way she can. She was going to fail, oh she was sure of it, but she knew he would appreciate it more than her not fighting the battle. So she did just that, she found out possible options for people like her, and came across the community service designed for people who have been left behind by their soulmates. It was a tough decision and she had never ever shared her life with so many people, so transition from staying with just one person to sharing everything with possibly hundreds of people, was going to be difficult. But Minho wouldn’t like it if she accepted defeat before even going to battle, and she wanted to be angry. Because it was him who promised her he would never let her fight alone, and now he left her behind, forcing her to figure it out on her own, and she wasn’t sure how she was going to get through her remaining life.

So that’s how Choi Eunsook ended up in the Seoul Community for Other Halves. First few days went with awkward introductions, most of the people getting used to the loss of their mate for a few months or even years. She was the newest and the most vulnerable with fresh loss and she tried to manage stopping from yelling in frustration as multiple people came with multiple pieces of advice about how to cope up with that loss. She wanted to scream and tell them that they are not helping her with this advice, their motive might be good but she was still raw from the grief and she didn’t want to listen to anyone just yet. Just because she had come to this place doesn’t mean she was open to take their advice and wanted to let them see her grief. She just wanted to go back in time and relive everything, from the moment he came into her life. There was nothing better in her life except his presence and for some people she might have had a pathetic life for being like that, but for her it was everything she would ever want. 

She had almost forgotten her life before finding her soulmate. Mostly because she never felt she had any worthy moment in that part of her life. She wasn’t a bright kid from the start, she was average, like those kids who don’t cause trouble but they don’t get straight A’s either. She never failed any class, but she never passed with flying colors as well. She was always average, in all manners. Even her appearance. She wasn’t what you call an ugly duckling, but she had a face you would see normally on women most of the time. Nothing worthwhile or nothing that could make heads turn. She never really had a family of any sorts, being a foster kid because her parents died in an accident and the foster family didn’t seem to care much about her. She never knew how it feels like to be cared for, to be needed or to be loved and pampered. She was so sure that she would never have a soulmate, there were people like that, who didn’t have one and so she always thought she would be one of them. When her 24th birthday passed without a call from the registry and the same happened with her next birthday, she believed that indeed she didn’t have a soulmate.

So when just a week before her 26th birthday she received a call, she was scared. She wasn’t ready, she was living her life considering she will never have that one person her heart ached for, and now that she was presented with the opportunity to have that half part of her soul, she was scared. She made her way to the court, her hands sweating and her heart wildly beating inside her chest. She had put a lot of thought into what to wear but opted for a simple yet classy look at the end. She never liked wearing clothes that showed her skin, but she didn’t want to look like a lady from the Victorian era. She went for a simple skirt that reached her ankles and top with sleeves reaching her elbows. She hoped that whoever that was supposed to be her soulmate, would just see past her outward appearance and would at least give her a chance before hating her. 

When she was called into court and she tipped her head upwards to take a look at her soulmate, she felt her heart leaping out of her chest. He was so beautiful!! There’s no way he was her soulmate. She couldn’t breath. This was just a joke, he was going to hate her and he was going to humiliate her before leaving her to live on her own. She was hyperventilating so badly that she didn’t realize the beautiful stranger came closer and held her carefully. Once she got her breathing in control and her eyes opened, she could see not just a pretty face but big brown eyes full of understanding and was that wonder? She couldn’t find hate or disgust in them. That was a good thing, right? She was brought back to the mainland when a deep soothing voice spoke, “Are you okay miss? If I let you go, would you be fine? Or you need me to hold on for some more seconds?”

And really, even if her heart would’ve wanted to let go of him. Just for the sake of rebelling and finding freedom from the world which decides people’s worth on finding soulmate, just to prove the world wrong that in fact she didn’t have a soulmate and that will never stop her from living her life, she couldn’t help but utter, “Please don’t let go…”

_ And those words were all too telling of what she lived for the next 40 years. He held onto her, and even if she sometimes wanted to fight back and feel free, she liked belonging solely to someone. And that’s how Lee Eunsook realized that she wasn’t defective, and even if Choi Minho was a stranger for now, he was the answer to her every question, her savior, her home, her soulmate. _


End file.
